Mewtwo (ミュウツー, Mewtwo) is a fictional creature from the popular and expansive Pokémon franchise. It is introduced as the "final Pokémon" in the very first game in the franchise. Mewtwo enjoys a good degree of fame and popularity in the Pokémon fan community for its significance as the original "Über Legendary", and it is included in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a playable character. It is one of the five characters to not return as playable in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, however. Mewtwo will make a reappearance in Super Smash Bros. 4 in early 2015 as the first downloadable character in the series.

Character description

Original artwork of Mewtwo from Pokémon Red and Green Versions.

Mewtwo is Pokémon #150 in the Generation I Pokédex, the final Pokémon in the list not counting the generally-unobtainable Mew which is #151 in the Pokédex. It is a clone of Mew that has been altered by unscrupulous scientists in order to increase its power and ruthlessness in battle. As a result, it is visually similar to Mew: a pale purple, vaguely feline humanoid with strong psychic powers. Unlike Mew, Mewtwo has the height and mass of an adult human, and thinks of nothing but fighting and defeating its opponents.

In-game, Mewtwo was designed to be the "final" Pokémon of the Generation I games, having a immense Special stat and a very high speed stat, the highest base stat total with a total of 590, and the (at the time clearly overpowered) Psychic type. As a result Mewtwo was an overcentralizing force that unbalanced the metagame until the next generation's Special split into Special Attack and Special Defense, and altered type interactions evened the playing field.

While Mewtwo sat as "just another legendary Pokémon" for several generations, it began a resurgence in popularity in Generation V, where it was given a signature attack in Psystrike. In Generation VI, Mewtwo then gained access to new transformations called Mega Evolutions. Like Charizard, and unlike most Pokémon who can also Mega Evolve, it has two Mega Evolution forms if it is holding a Mewtwonite X or a Mewtwonite Y as its item: the larger and bulkier Mega Mewtwo X, and the small, light, and floating Mega Mewtwo Y respectively.

In the Pokémon anime and movie series, Mewtwo is a (at the time of the first movie) one-of-a-kind Pokémon that develops a hatred for humans and the concept of subserviant Pokémon, attempting to prove the superiority of clones over originals. It later has a change of heart and becomes a sort of anti-hero, mostly keeping to itself and trying to find its purpose.

Mewtwo does not appear in the original Smash in any sort of capacity. However, according to a page on the Japanese Super Smash Bros. site, Mewtwo was planned to be included as a playable character, but was cut; Bowser and King Dedede are also mentioned as having been planned but cut, though no other information is available. [1]

As a playable character

Mewtwo made its Smash-series debut as an unlockable character in Melee. It is much more tedious to unlock than most other secret characters in Melee, however; it can be unlocked after either playing 20 cumulative hours of Vs. Mode matches (5 hours for four players), or playing 700 Vs. Mode matches.

Mewtwo's playstyle is very floaty and includes a decent variety of combos, strong throws, a very good wavedash, above-average dodges, a strong projectile, and one of the best recoveries. On the other hand, it has a bad combination of large size and light weight, which results in it being an easy target to hit and combo while being especially easy to KO, giving Mewtwo some of the worst survivability in Melee despite its recovery and defensive prowess. In addition to this crippling problem it has general awkwardness in its moveset and movement, most of its moves being not very useful or outright near useless attacks, lacking solid KO options, and having slow movement speed. As a result, Mewtwo has infamously sat in the bottom tier of Melee's tier list for most of the game's lifespan, being among the game's most unpopular characters and considered the worst character at several points in the game's lifespan, having only recently climbed its way out of the bottom tier to its current position of 21st.

Trophies

Mewtwo, as a playable character, has three trophies - a main trophy acquired by defeating the Classic mode with Mewtwo on any difficulty, and the two Smash trophies are by beating the Adventure and All-Star modes, respectively. Its Classic mode trophy reads:

Mewtwo

A genetically created Pokémon, Mewtwo is the result of many long years of research by a solitary scientist. Although Mewtwo was cloned from the genes of the legendary Pokémon Mew, its size and character are far different than its ancestor. Its battle abilities have been radically heightened, making it ruthless.

Despite not being a clone at all like the other cut characters, Mewtwo did not return in Brawl as a playable character. This resulted in a significant amount of fan outcry, despite Mewtwo's lack of popularity as a playable character in Melee, as the majority of players saw it as an unjustified cut.

Trophy

Mewtwo appears in Brawl as a collectible trophy, obtained by completing All-Star Mode on Intense difficulty. The trophy describes Mewtwo's appearance in the Pokémon games, and makes no reference whatsoever to its appearance in Melee:

The Mewtwo trophy from Brawl.

Mewtwo

A Genetic Pokémon. This legendary Pokémon was based on a recombination of Mew's DNA, created by a scientist after years of research. However, Mewtwo greatly differs from Mew in both size and personality and it is said to have the most twisted and savage heart among all Pokémon. Mewtwo has incredibly high combat abilities and uses Psychic-type attacks.

: Pokémon Red/Blue

: Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen

Unfinished data

While Mewtwo does not appear as a playable character in Brawl, there are many empty files on the game disc bearing its name. This includes a graphic effects file (ef_mewtwo.pac[2]), a victory theme (snd_bgm_Z38_MYU2[3]), and a Wii Remote selection sound (which no other scrapped character has). While it is possible that the files are leftover data imported from Melee for referential purposes, the prevailing theory is that Mewtwo was planned to be playable but ended up being cut. As Mewtwo has the most unused content of any scrapped character, and is arguably the least-justified cut due to not being a clone character in terms of moveset, it can be assumed that Mewtwo was the last cut made to Brawl's roster.

As a playable character

During development of the game, an appearance of Mewtwo's Mega Evolution was reportedly considered by Masahiro Sakurai. During the Pokémon X and Y Developer Roundtable at E3 2013, an audience member asked if developers wanted to see Mega Mewtwo in the next Smash Bros. While the developers stated that they had nothing to report about the question, Masahiro Sakurai, who was in the audience at the time, reportedly said "We are thinking about it."[4] Despite this, Mewtwo did not initially make the final cut of the game as a playable character, returning only as a collectible trophy. Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y also appear as a trophy in the Wii U version.

After failing to appear in the finalized roster, Mewtwo was later announced in the Super Smash Bros. for Wii U 50-Fact Extravaganza to be a playable character. It is scheduled to be a downloadable character, and is intended for release in early 2015; consumers who register both the 3DS and Wii U versions of the game on Club Nintendo before March 31, 2015 can get it for free. Any other information, including a moveset or Final Smash, is unknown at the time.

Trophy

Created from modified Mew DNA, Mewtwo was designed to be the ultimate Pokémon. It didn't take on any of Mew's kinder traits and only uses its intelligence to destroy its enemies. Or...so it seems. Perhaps it just feels frightened or even tormented, and that's why it lashes out. Whatever the reason, Mewtwo is not to be messed with.

Trivia

Mewtwo is the only playable Pokémon character in the Super Smash Bros. series that is a Legendary Pokémon.

It is also the only playable Pokémon that has no evolutionary relatives, due to its status as a Legendary Pokémon.

Mewtwo and Dr. Mario are the only characters to have been dropped from one installment and then been brought back in the next.